


Safe Harbour

by Sangerin



Category: Malory Towers Series - Blyton
Genre: F/F, Special Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-08
Updated: 2010-03-08
Packaged: 2017-10-07 19:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangerin/pseuds/Sangerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It began when Darrell stumbled upon Bill and Clarissa in a private moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe Harbour

It began when Darrell stumbled upon Bill and Clarissa in a private moment. The two girls were given to hiding away in odd corners, and the rest of the form were so used to this — it had been going on since their second term in the Upper Fourth — that the assumption was that they were talking about their horses. Alicia, in fact, was certain that Bill and Clarissa spoke in 'horse', braying and whinnying more than they ever spoke in English. But when Darrell quietly slid open the door to the music room that afternoon, in search of her own special friend, Sally Hope, Bill and Clarissa were speaking neither Horse nor English.

Clarissa was sitting on Bill's lap, held firmly by one of Bill's arms around her waist. Clarissa's head was bent down to Bill's, and the two girls were kissing. Not even Darrell's stifled gasp intruded upon them, intent as they were on each other. Darrell left the room in a hurry and closed the door softly behind her. She started walking and didn't stop as she descended the stairs of North Tower and burst out into the courtyard. She didn't stop when Betty and Alicia hailed her from their place on the top step of the sunken garden. She hurried out of the courtyard toward the playing fields, but didn't stop when Moira called out to her from the tennis court. She dashed down the steps to the pool carved out of stone at the side of the ocean, and beyond the pool to where she knew she would find a little grotto amongst the trees. She had been almost universally happy during her time at Malory Towers, and she had rarely needed this little retreat. But there were times — never perhaps as desperate as this — when she had needed solitude. And solitude was very hard to find in a boarding school that was home to hundreds of girls.

Darrell crawled beneath the branches into her little haven, where she sat down and drew her knees up to her chest. Truth to be told, she had no idea why she suddenly felt so lost and alone: she didn't recognise the little curl of jealousy within her for what it was, nor the sudden awareness of the absence of touch for its true meaning. So she sat and watched the waves crash against the cliffs, curled up in a tight ball. She tried, for a minute or two, to puzzle through what she had seen. Bill and Clarissa were close – that was no secret among the North Tower Sixth Formers – and it was not the kiss that Darrell was worrying about. It was the sense of longing she felt: that, at least, she could recognise and name.

"Darrell?" said Sally, from the other side of the branches. "Moira said you went haring off here. What's wrong?" Sally bent down and crawled in to sit beside Darrell, one arm around Darrell's shoulders.

"Nothing," said Darrell, leaning into Sally. "I'm all right now that you're here."


End file.
